UAB Blazers College Football Pregame Quote, 11/11/2019

This is not a fun way to start your day. We did good, bad and ugly this morning with our players to get this game behind us and put it to rest. The challenge for us is we have to get better. I’ve got to put us in a position to get better and do the things we can do. Obviously it is good to get back home. It was a touch road trip with games at Tennessee and Southern Miss. UTEP is similar to Rice being better than their record indicates. They have a really good coaching staff and have been in these games. They led Charlotte the entire game and then lose it right at the end. They are not playing bad at all. But it is good to get back home. We have to get better and find the things we can do well and get this thing turned around.

On how to bounce back:

I think you find the things you can do. Obviously, we’ve turned the ball over two games in a row. I t starts with that. We have to protect the ball offensively. That’s one we have to set ourselves up for success. Turnovers have really hurt us. We’ve played two good football teams two weeks in a row. I knew that was coming, so we have to look at every phase. I think special teams were solid, but we have to do better. We had a kickoff that we mishandled that we work on all the time. Every little detail is important. Defensively, we played solid again, but we didn’t play great. I thought we played well. They got put in a bunch of tough situations. Offensively, we have to get back to doing the things we can do and things that Dylan (Hopkins) can do. We’re going to try to set him up for success as much as we can.

On whether Hopkins was overwhelmed:

I think so. You can’t simulate that environment or that game. You’re playing against a really good defense who’s probably as exotic as we’ve seen. I was showing things today when you’re sitting and third and eight, nine or 10 ‚Äì I don’t care who you are. When they drop eight guys off that are twisting and moving, it’s going to be hard. He made some throws he just shouldn’t have made, but at the same time, we weren’t running the ball. We weren’t doing other things, so we’ve got to do a better job with those things for him. I think just the environment is tough on anybody that’s not played.

On first down struggles:

I’ve said this, and I’ll say it again. We’ve played two really good defenses, so a little bit of respect to the offense, but you can’t put yourself behind the chains. What are those things that will allow us to do that? That’s what we have to be working on this week. Without divulging all of our secrets, that’s going to be a huge point of emphasis. We have to be able to run the ball. We have to. That’s part of it.

On the magnitude of the upcoming game:

It’s big. It’s the next game. For example, our players were asking yesterday to have the good, bad and ugly early this morning. That, to me, tells me a lot about those guys. One, they believe in the process. I wasn’t going to do it. We were going to move on. They understand what they have to get done as a team. We have to help him. I think for him, he’s going to be better. The environment is going to be better. It’s his second game. We’re going to try to make sure we do as much of the things as he can do and protect him as we can. You can only protect a guy so much. We’re going to do everything we can to help him.

On the offensive line having to shuffle:

Here we go again early on losing (Greg) Fecanin, so there’s another shuffle. Without making excuses, you get guys back, but all of a sudden now you’ve changed rotation. Now here comes Lee (Dufour), then (Andrew) Smith (Jr.) who hasn’t worked a lot at guard all week. I do think we have better depth than we’ve had, so now it’s just going to be who performs the best this week.

On playing at home:

I think any time we’re less than four hours away, we’re end up on a bus. You’re talking about a three and a half hour bus ride, then the postgame bus ride, which affects you the next week. We can’t let that happen this week. It’s just better. The hotel we stay in that we stay in for all the home games, the home crowd and the fact we’ve had success here ‚Äì I think you put all those things together. We want to be a good road team, but there is a little difference in being home. We’re glad to be home.

On whether there’s a sense of urgency:

I think so. I think we had it. I think you’re seeing somebody who – let’s just be honest. It was the Super Bowl. Besides the fact it was a conference game and all that – I can tell guys that, but when you beat somebody three times in a row and win the West against them, that’s what a Super Bowl looks like. You see it after the game. That’s what’s tough on a bunch of young guys. That’s the urgency you’re going to see from a bunch of other teams, and we have to develop that same urgency. Granted, this is not our first rodeo. We’ve played in a bunch of games, so it’s unfortunate that our starting quarterback went down, but we have to deal with it and be better for it. Like I said, I think Dylan will be better. I think we’ll all be better. As we were watching that with the offensive line this morning, they said they have to get better. There’s urgency for everybody in this building.

On Veterans Day:

I’m old school with all that. I always say Mom, apple pie and the flag. All of our guys ‚Äì I’m glad you mentioned that. We gave out some tickets to the firemen and police last week, so all those people that serve us besides obviously the veterans. What they’ve done for our country and those that are actively serving, we just appreciate them so much. This is why we’re getting to do the things that we do. We’re thankful for the people that stand on that line for us every day. Police, firemen and all those first responders ‚Äì obviously this is Veteran’s Day, so thank you to all of our veterans. It’s a big deal on Saturday, and we appreciate them.